Bhopal: President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday called for an initiative to build a strong innovation culture in the country in higher education.

After laying the foundation stone of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University, the President who addressed the gathering in Hindi to mark the occasion, said, "I call upon the university to take the initiative to build a strong innovation culture."

The university is being established at Mugalia Kot village near the state capital by the Madhya Pradesh government after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's name.The President said that 2010-20 has been declared as the decade of innovation. Stating that language plays an important role between the government and the people, the President said, "Success of social welfare and development programme depends on language. Therefore, we should encourage Hindi and other regional languages."

"Hindi has always played an important role in national integration. It is a symbol of India's social and cultural unity," Mukherjee said.

Later, Mukherjee also released a newsletter 'Atal Samvad'. The President also attend the eighth convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi Prodyogiki Vishwavidyalaya and inaugurated the tribal museum.

On June 7, Mukherjee will leave for Jhoteshwar in Narsinghpur district to inaugurate the Shankracharya Netralaya, established by Swami Swaroopanand Charitable Trust for providing medical facilities to the region's tribal population. The President will attend the 1st convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University at Amarkantak. The university was established in 2008 with the aim to provide avenues of higher education and research facilities primarily to the tribal population.

On June 8, he will attend the 1st convocation of the newly created Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indore.